Writing and Roleplaying Guild Wiki:Policies Overview/Chat
The Wikia Chat is an on-site live chat that users may participate in. There is one main room of chat, and then users have the option of private messaging users into a private chat window. Generally speaking, in main chat, we prefer to keep roleplay out of it. Sometimes users may goof off a bit and pretend to fight or do random things, but we do not do any actual site roleplaying there. If users desire to do so in private messages, that is their prerogative. We all come from different and various types of lives, homes and backgrounds, please try to respect your fellow Wikian's views and be polite and respectful while in chat. Chat Rules In general people must understand that people coming to participate in this wiki come from various ages, walks of life, countries, etc. They also come here, or should be coming here to this particular chat, to participate or talk about the Writing and Role Playing Guild wiki, though as this wiki encompasses broad topics, that could be about anything. *'Banned Topics:' I've been on other wiki's and found that banning specific topics is actually pretty hard to do. Arguments end up breaking out as far as what actually constitutes discussing a topic versus just casually mentioning a topic. If you ban religion, and talk about the newest Pope, is that bad, what if you just are saying that your cousin is Jewish, is that religion as a topic? Because of this, the only full on banned topic will be anything that goes into things Rated XXX/pornography. *'The Tone of Chat:' This is the most important rule. Because banning topics to keep chat friendly has proven in the past unfruitful, we are focusing on the tone of chat. Any topic could lead to a heated argument that brings the tone of chat into very unfriendly places that aren't conducive to a productive atmosphere. If chat at any time, for any reason, on any topic, becomes unruly, crude, angry, unwelcoming, bullying, trolling or just in general is making users feel uncomfortable, the topic must be changed and at the least sent to a private message. This of course can leave a large grey area and will rely heavily on the users of this wiki being honest and the Admin Team doing their jobs to protect the integrity and atmosphere in chat, but also not letting their positions of authority lead to corruption and dishonesty. #'Roleplay in Chat': Chat is mainly for out of character/real life conversation, not roleplay. That isn't to say that a large group of users may want to goof off once and awhile and have a little fun in chat, but that is not the chat's main purpose and that type of chat activities should be limited to private messages. If any such activities prove to be disrupting chat users can be asked to move it off chat and into private messages, at the discretion of the Admin Team. *'YELLING IN CHAT:' It's natural for users to get over excited in chat and occasionally have excited outbursts of all caps. As long as it's clearly just a user showing brief excitement to something and doesn't lead to fights and doesn't turn into constant spamming of caps continuously there can be leniency to this rule, but constant usage of all caps will not be tolerated. *'Spamming:' Spamming can sometimes be a grey area. Where is the line when sending off Wiki links, 5 links a minute, 5 links in the span of 10 minutes, etc etc. The best rule of thumb for "spamming" is whether or not it's relevant links to a discussion going on (like someone needing help looking for a model for their character) versus someone just posting random links to random 'funny' pages that no one asked to see or cares about. Also, is the spamming being done gibberish or nonsensical. *'Trolling Behaviour:' Sometimes users enter chat rooms just to slowly cause trouble over time, these can be VERY hard to spot and VERY hard to deal with, causing users to oftentimes stoop to the troll's level, giving the troll precisely what they oped to achieve, a disrupted chat. If you come across a user who is clearly trying to goad you into fighting, without outright breaking rules, IGNORE IGNORE IGNORE. If they break rules, warn and link to policies, if they persist, chat ban. It's as simple as that, or at least it should be. *'Nonsense:' Sometimes users just start going off on things that make no sense what-so-ever, maybe you can't even understand what they are typing it's such gibberish, this will not be tolerated. *'Offensive Language/Bullying:' Because we have a broad range of ratings on this Wiki we aren't going to be prudes about language, but that doesn't mean people need to cuss like rowdy sailors all the time, and crude language that is used for bullying or is insensitive to cultures, religions, gender, etc will not be tolerated at all. Bullying itself will have a zero tolerance policy here in both chat and everywhere on the Wiki in general. Users come here to express themselves, meet new people and have fun, not be bullied by others or treated poorly all because of who they are. Chat Warnings: Specific to how in chat warnings/actions should be taken: #One to two clear verbal warnings (depending on the severity of the rule break), for instance "So and so, please stop if you do not I will have to kick you from chat" #If you don't think you are getting your point across, a "kick" may get your point across quicker that you are serious and that they need to stop. #If they persist even after one or two verbal warnings and/or even a kick, immediately ban them for anywhere between a few hours to a few days depending on the severity of the issues. Once they are banned, leave a message on their talk page explaining the ban and how long the ban is for. #If once the temp ban is lifted, they come back and repeatedly cause more problems in chat, they should be banned again for an even longer period, and should receive an official wiki warning. (Note: If at any point in this they start breaking other rules around the wiki and/or arguing/bullying on talk pages, further and more severe corrective action will be taken.) Warnings Leniency: An Administration which attempts to enforce rules and policies exactly by the book without restraint or remorse is often regarded as a hated one; as policy cannot be crafted to fit every potentiality. Therefore, it is necessary that Chat Moderators be allowed to deal with situations on a case-by-case basis instead of according to rigid or specific rules and regulations which may not be applicable. At present reasons for warnings are as follows: Good Reasons *Personal attacks *Harassment *Spamming *Policy violation *Inappropriate language *Excessive YELLING Bad Reasons *Disagreeing with an administrator, unless it gets to the point where it has turned into a heated argument and they have been asked to stop but won't Naturally all of the above, with the exception of Policy Violation, Sock Puppetry, and disagreeing with an administrator are entirely subjective. Thus, if an esteemed user, or perhaps an entirely new member, does any of these things once or twice leniency may be a reasonable response. However if this unreasonable behaviour continues warnings may be necessary. Likewise, if a user with a history of offences does something, he may be granted less leniency or none at all. All of the above is up to the Chat Moderator's discretion. Disputes: If a situation occurs in which the accused disputes the subjective allegations laid against him he may ask his fellow chat members for an appeal. In this eventuality all those present in chat at the time the incident occurred will be asked to vote for or against the accusations. If the majority votes for, the accusations stand. If the majority votes against, they fail. Debates about these topics can be made here. Note: If the accusations of a chat moderator fail, these are not grounds to make an accusation in return. Internet Relay Chat The above rules for Wikia chat, apply to the IRC channel, which can be joined here, IRC. Category:Policy